(ThyBlackMan.com) Microsoft has launched the Surface Laptop 2 and there’s not a lot that’s new in this new product. Needless to say that the new laptop is more like a small upgrade than a full refresh, but the small changes including the selection of hardware components, ports, and design options make the Surface Laptop 2 one of the best Windows laptops you can buy in 2018.

The starting price of Surface Laptop 2 is $999. You get the Intel Core i5 processor with 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage capacity on this laptop. At this price, only the platinum gray color model is available. Three more color options including black, burgundy, and cobalt blue are available at a higher price. There’s a pink color Surface Laptop 2 which is available in China. If you max out the configuration with 16GB RAM, 8th generation Intel Core i7 processor and 1TB storage space in the platinum gray color model, you will have to shell out $2699.

As far as the major changes are concerned, there’s are two important things you should know. The new Surface Laptop 2 is now available in a black color option and it supports the latest 8th generation Intel Core i7 processor. For performance, this is a massive improvement because the new processor replaces the dual-core module with quad-core. Microsoft claims that the new laptop is 85 percent faster than the last year’s model. A new thermal solution gives more room for cooling and as a result, laptop fans have become less noisy.

Other small improvements include an instant-on feature that allows users to turn on their device quickly. Microsoft has also made some improvements to the Windows Hello login process and made it quick. Now when there are multiple storage options available (ranging from 128GB to 1TB), the SSD performance has been improved.

Microsoft has completely ditched the entry-level M3 model this year, so the only options you have in the processor area are the i5 and i7. This move has significantly increased the price as the entry-level model now costs $999. We were expecting that Microsoft will add Intel UHD Graphics 640 chip on the high-end model of the Surface Laptop 2, but the company is giving us Intel UHD Graphics 620 with i5 and i7 configuration.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 ships with Windows 10 Home. This is surprising because this time, the company is not letting users upgrade to Windows 10 Pro for free. For the Windows 10 in S Mode, Microsoft allowed users to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro for free. As far as the design is concerned, the new Surface laptop doesn’t feature any major changes in design. Other than the new black color with its black Alcantara deck, the design is still the same. There is no big change in the ports but if you still prefer USB Type-C support for power and card reader to access media, these features are not available anymore. A mini DisplayPort and USB Type-A port are still there.

The Surface Laptop 2 features a 13.5-inch PixelSense display offering 2256 x 1504 resolution with 201ppi. The pixel density on this multi-touch display is slightly lower than the Surface Pro 6 and Surface Book 2, but you will hardly find any difference as the other two devices feature 267ppi despite having a higher display resolution. You can draw quick sketches using a Surface Pen. The inbuilt ambient light sensor keeps the display brightness at decent levels and offers high-quality visuals.

The Surface Laptop 2 features a chiclet-style keyboard and with the backlit support it is very responsive and the bounce is decent. The soft Alcantara deck makes the whole experience a lot better and luxurious. It’s hard to find this much comfort while using a laptop when manufacturers these days are trying to reduce the size without paying much attention to comfort. The battery life of the laptop is decent. It can last for more than 10 hours and according to Microsoft, the laptop can easily offer up to 14.5 hours of battery life.

The Surface Laptop 2 is one of the most beautiful and high performing laptops, and if you are looking for a decent laptop that gets the job done, don’t forget to consider this new Surface laptop.